back to article Facebook disses Effin Irishwoman

An Irishwoman from the picturesque village of Effin is a bit put out that Facebook has unkindly dubbed her place of birth "offensive". Ann Marie Kennedy, 47, says she and several chums have repeatedly tried to enter the name of the hamlet, some 20 miles south of Limerick, as their "Hometown" on the social network, only to be …

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  1. relpy

    Presumably

    Twinned with Sc*nthorpe?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No: twinned with Bastardstown :)

      http://wikimapia.org/6760291/Bastardstown

      1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

        Or maybe

        Far North Queensland.

  2. atomic jam
    Thumb Up

    Could be worse, she could be from Muff. (its a real place, Donegal)

    Read Title.

    1. JASR
      Coat

      The Village Muff

      And inevitably it has:

      http://www.muffdivingclub.ie/

      1. mike2R
        Happy

        Re: The Village Muff

        That is hilarious. I'm very tempted by one of these T shirts...

        http://www.cafepress.com/2509

    2. Patrick O'Reilly

      And another Muff in Nor' Meath

      As the name shows, on this blurry rock (surrounded by a suitably topiaryed bush), there's a Muff Cresent right outside Nobber (pronounced Nob-her), Co.Meath

      http://g.co/maps/vh9kw

    3. LaeMing
      Coat

      In the end,

      we all come from muff.

      1. Scorchio!!
        Thumb Up

        Re: In the end,

        Presumably Walking Bottom in Surrey will also present problems, and Fucking in Austria will definitely do so. As for people living in certain roads:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gropecunt_Lane

        There is absolutely no effing chance at all. All we need is nanny Harriet to assist in the process of changing place and street names, as recently happened in the case of one Butts Lane not long back. It's just a fucking word, FFS.

      2. Goat Jam
        WTF?

        Surely, that would in be the beginning then?

  3. Turtle_Fan

    Well effin said

    See title

  4. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    Facebook eh?

    Effin hell.

  5. ropie

    Effin' whoopee do! Does anyone remember Jack Tuat and the Whale?

  6. Rob Carriere
    Thumb Up

    Friday afternoon poetry

    Keep up the good work!

  7. Steve Graham

    Good Effin story, but...

    ...I don't think it's censorship. I think it's just the Facebook places software being seriously broken.

    At one time, you could create named locations willy-nilly, but then Facebook introduced some kind of vetting based on -- possibly -- a static dump of Wikipedia. So if your town "does not exist" you can't enter it, and you can't update the database (though I think there may be a loophole through the Facebook mobile site).

    But some of the old comedy ones are still available.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not just Facebook

      Wasn't there a Fort Gay incident (or something similar) with XBox Live?

  8. BorkedAgain
    Thumb Up

    More limericks, please!

    Good effort. I think, as well as the Playmobil re-enactments, some weekly doggerel round-ups might be in order...

  9. Christoph

    She's lucky she's not from the little Austrian village of Fucking.

    1. Just Thinking

      For some reason I read that as Australian, and it still seemed to make sense.

  10. Paul Dx

    An Irish lass called Ann Marie

    Thought Facebook was taking the p

    They wouldn't letin

    Her home town of Effin

    They said "It's offensive, you see"

    1. cloudgazer

      needs another syllable on line 3

      Perhaps:

      'coz they wouldn't let in

  11. Armando 123
    Devil

    I wonder

    if they will let you select Sugar Tit, South Carolina.

  12. R 11

    The Big Effen Bee

    I wonder if facebook ban it for the french too?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Z1V5cSWU4

  13. Kirbini
    Happy

    Much obliged

    ...for my first laugh of the day. That limerick is priceless. Any chance the Zuck reads el Reg?

  14. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
    Paris Hilton

    Muff diving club

    I can understand why she's a bit pissed off, I wouldn’t like to give my home town as Limerick either, but, it could be worse, her home town could be Meanus, also in Co. Limerick.

    Have the Muff (Co. Donegal) Sub-aqua club set up a facebook page, they have a web page at http://www.muffdivingclub.ie/

    Other Irish place names likely to cause a problem:- Nobber (Meath), Bastardstown (Wexford), Termonfeckin (Louth), Meelick (Clare, Galway & Mayo), Mount Juliet (Kilkenny), and Spunkane (Kerry)

    By the way this is the same Facebook that continues to leave 1 individual spamming my facebook page with porn links dispite been notified 18 times (I won't unfriend the individual as I curious to see how long it takes facebook to ban them)

    Paris, also a member of the muff diving club.

    1. Rick Giles
      Pirate

      I'm sick of Facebook anyway

      You used to be able to create a page for an "alternate ego" but they took that away. How the hell am I supposed to rant about people I know without them knowing it's me?? Thank god Twitter lets you do that still... for know.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      There is also Killinaspick in Killkenny and Soldiers hole in Wexford

      and Asshaggard in Wexford. Ohh Killmacow in Wicklow i think.

    3. Stu_The_Jock

      spamming

      You are of course assuming it IS the individual spamming you not one of the many dubious apps that spam under users names,

  15. Jim 59

    Facebook

    Seriously ? Facebook devs don't know about lookup tables ? Or exceptions ? Or if...then statements ? Eg they couls allow Effin only if the county is Limierick. Go on a course you chumps.

    1. streaky

      Facebook Devs

      Why u mad bro?

      Seriously though knowing a couple - get a grip.

  16. CraigW

    Teacups ahoy

    Perhaps an 'of' in that page title and this story wouldn't exist. Afterall, the only deletion for was the page that was created. I have the same problem setting my own home town on my profile, and it is home to well over 5,000 people and has been around for 150 years.

  17. Nick Kew
    Go

    We need to know ...

    In the interests of research, tell us how folks from Penistone or Pratt's Bottom, or a range of villages on the river Piddle, fare!

    1. LaeMing
      Unhappy

      Penistone.

      I've had kidney stones and that was painful enough, thanks!

  18. Oor Nonny-Muss
    Happy

    Lucky...

    she doesn't have friends from Muff, Co. Donegal or Nobber, Co. Meath.

  19. zb

    Scunthorpe

    How long before they ban that town?

  20. Daniel Snowden
    Joke

    This reminds me of the time Scunthorpe was said to have been knocked off the internet

  21. Mad yakker
    Stop

    Not the first time...

    Reminds me of a story I heard years ago where residents of Scunthorpe fell foul of AOL's moral police.

    1. El Zed

      Wait, what?

      '..Scunthorpe fell foul of AOL's moral police.'

      AOL had morals?

      Feh!, who knew?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder if the residents of the Austrian village of Fucking have similar issues.

    1. Jeff Power
      Childcatcher

      Nope, I just made my hometown Fucking, Austria. Has a picture of the sign and everything. Might possibly be related to "community standards". I'm in Canada, and this sort of thing on a Facebook page wouldn't raise many eyebrows. I don't know how much the Catholic Church still dominates Ireland, but I can see the "community standards" being less relaxed in such a place.

  23. Psmiffy
    Pint

    Award

    Where can we vote for awards? Lester deserves a few beers for his limerick at least.

    1. DavidK
      Pint

      Award, award!

      Drink! Feck!

  24. Chris Comley

    No, facebook has done no such thing. it isn't banning her quaint village name out of spite, but merely out of stupidity. It doesn't allow ANY city name to be put in that it doesn't recognise. So I can't put MY village name (ballinger) in, I can't even put in the name of our nearest towns coz it doesn't recognise those either. I've given up and put "London" - all my friends know where I live, and anyone from american thinks we all live in London anyway...

    1. Rick Giles
      Headmaster

      London's not England?!?

      1. Don't feel bad, most people here now days are geographically challenged anyway. Besides, if you heard my accent you would probably ask if I lived in the backwoods in the great state of Georgia (which I don't).

      2. It's not "from american", it's "from America".

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You're both wrong; its 'from Yankeeland'

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Chris Comley

      From experience I can tell you quite a few Americans think that England is in London

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @AC @CHRIS COMLEY

        Or the Chinese pandas that think Scotland is in England by having big ben on the side of the lorry bringing them instead of a more Scottish piccy

  25. Adrian Jones

    I bet they have a similar problem here:

    http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=48.068157,12.864218&spn=0.044795,0.077162

    1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      Happy

      Over to the right a bit....

      ....the town of "eggenham"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I do not like them,

        Sam-I-am.

        1. BorkedAgain
          Thumb Up

          Would you like then here or there?

  26. Thomas 4
    Pint

    Yeah.

    I laughed my ass off at the limerick. XD

  27. Gav
    Boffin

    Facebook is not the web

    If you want to have your internet within the bounds of a walled garden that's controlled by one bunch of admin guys in a different country, then expect to be told by them what is, and isn't, in their expert but limited opinion, appropriate and accurate on a website. And that's if you get any kind of response from them at all.

    You want your town recognised on the web? Then put it on the web, not Facebook.

    Your limerick doesn't have an acceptable metre, by the way.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I know that many consider Dublin ( Particularly D2 and D4 ) to be a separate country, but they're wrong. Facebooks European Headquarters ( which hosts facebook admins ), and Effin are both in Ireland.

  28. Daveedmo
    Thumb Up

    Brilliant

    Obviously, residents of Twatt, in Orkney, shouldn't even bother trying...

    1. Jimbo 6

      Not only, but also :

      Upper Twatt - as in, "I can see Upper Twatt from here"

      (Also in Orkney : Cumminess, and Tongue of Gangsta)

    2. Eddie Hotchkiss
      Thumb Up

      Or Twatt in Shetland

      Everyone forgets that one and thinks only Orkney has it

  29. BristolBachelor Gold badge
    Joke

    "unkindly dubbed her place of birth 'offensive' "

    However they allow people to say that they are from Wales? *

    * insert another place as fits the humour/customs where you live, in place of Wales **

    ** No offence meant to Welsh peoples, I used it just for humour and because if I said Liverpool, they would've killed me.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Nah...

      ... For the most part, Liverpudlians are a nice friendly sort, lots of recent development has lifted the area. It's a place of commerce, art and culture.

      Now on the other hand, had you said Toxteth!!!!!!!

    2. heyrick Silver badge

      Liverpool?

      Seems to me these days whenever anything bad happens, the Beeb send a reporter to Salford.

      [or maybe budget cuts mean they can only afford outside broadcasts in their own car park?]

  30. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Coat

    Effin awful!!

    sorry, I'll get me coat

  31. Norm DePlume
    FAIL

    Sigh

    But using the word 'effing' is a way of avoiding profanity. Maybe we should just brand it Effbook.

  32. zebthecat
    Happy

    Could be worse...

    She could come from Termenfeckin!

  33. Tom 7

    At least 6 Mile Bottom is in Cambridgeshire

    and not Essex.

  34. Worse

    Could be worse

    Just image you hail from this little Austrian village:

    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Fucking,+Austria&hl=en&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=14.118794,32.211914&vpsrc=0&hnear=Fucking,+Braunau+am+Inn,+Upper+Austria,+Austria&t=m&z=14

    or a less offensive one:

    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=IBM,+Eggelsberg,+Austria&hl=en&sll=48.067412,12.950993&sspn=0.062289,0.125828&vpsrc=0&hnear=Ibm,+Braunau+am+Inn,+Upper+Austria,+Austria&t=m&z=14

    :-)

  35. SuperTim

    I dont get it.

    It is on facebook.

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Effin/150845254978025

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    I'm sure my ex was from here

    http://g.co/maps/bwzzs

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In Germany exist a town named 'fucking'

  38. Mage Silver badge

    Why?

    Why do people use Facebook at all?

    Don't they know how to use Email and the CC and BCC as well as TO

    Maybe I should design a local Email client that runs in a Browser and looks like Twitter/facebook/Linkedin?

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    or even the place named after Zuck himself....

    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=bell+end&hl=en&ll=52.391054,-2.086244&spn=0.021083,0.038581&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=20.982131,39.506836&vpsrc=6&hnear=Bell+End,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=15

  40. Colin Miller

    Cockburn

    Has FB banned the surname "Cockburn" (normally pronounced co'burn, effin' prudes), or

    several places named after Cockburns, such as Cockburn Island, Ontario, or The City of Cockburn, Western Australia?

  41. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Stop

    Suprised nobody has mentioned

    Gobblers Knob

    1. LaeMing

      Nobbys Head, Port Macquarie New South Wales 2444

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Its a Sh&thole anyway

    Its not worth loosing sleep over that place is a dump. Well a ditch. Like most of limerick ifs full of cream crackers.

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what about

    Shitterton...

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Knob Lick, KY?

    Dildo, Newfoundland?

    Or indeed, any of these:

    http://www.i-r-genius.com/rudeplaces.html

  45. Paul RND*1000
    WTF?

    Er wait...

    This *is* the same Facebook which is stuffed full of profane status updates, yes?

    I thought so, just wanted to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

  46. Tom Maddox Silver badge
    Joke

    Missing the obvious

    I see that Facebook haven't banned Belgium, so their profanity filters are clearly deficient.

    1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      I've clicked on the blue button

      Can't have this sort of filth here. (Lucky for you, I'm blue-green colourblind.)

  47. dssf

    See these...

    http://www.legendsofamerica.com/loa-oddplacenames.html

    Elephant Butte, Tingle, Truth or Consequences

    Blue Ball, Climax, Fly, Knockemstiff, Three Legs Town (Ohio)

    Coward, Due West, Ninetimes, Sugar Tit (South Carolina)

    Bumpass, Croaker, Frogtown, Goochland, Goosepimple Junction, Mutt, Nuttsville, Ordinary (Virginia)

    Bald Knob, Arkansas

    Booger Hollow, Arkansas

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I had trouble with...

    ... Hotmail 1.0 all those years ago when I tried to put my place of residence as "Clitheroe"

  49. kain preacher

    What about Intercourse, PA ?

  50. Six Gun Pete

    There's one in France too. As any fan of Matt McGinn will tell you:

    http://www.scotster.com/forums/scottish-jokes-humour/The-Big-Effen-Bee.3446.html

  51. Robert E A Harvey

    Oh well

    This makes a change from those two perrenials:

    the Ugly women's institute

    the Idle working man's club.

  52. Turtle

    Sad sad story.

    I read of this woman's plight and thought to myself, what an Effin shame.

  53. Ross K Silver badge

    She should thank her stars...

    that she doesn't live in the nearby village of Meanus

    http://www.igooglemaps.com/europe/ireland/county-limerick/meanus/

  54. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    I'd like to help rectify this travesty!!

    I hereby volunteer my considerable marketing acumen to help redress this crime against the good village of Effin. First off, we need a publicity campaign, and I suggest the following tagline--Effin Proud!!!

    Other possibilities that might draw a suitable response from the global public include:

    -Effin Ireland!!

    -Effin, eh?

    -Effin Beautiful!!

    Since since local festivals with cultural attractions are kind of de riguer in building a positive public identity, maybe we can cap off "Effin Proud" week with the "Effin Funny" outdoor comedy festival!!

    And so, I must be going for now. Mine's the tarred-and-feathered one on the hook over there.....

  55. ROG
    Paris Hilton

    Due to privacy concerns...

    I changed my hometown to "Fucking, Austria" a few months back. Had no problem doing that, except all the banner ads are in German now. Not that I care... I'd rather not understand them anyway!

    Fucking... Paris... they're all cities...

  56. John Riddoch

    Hrm....

    I wonder if people from a certain town in Austria have the same problem?

  57. slith
    Thumb Down

    Effin shameful!

  58. Z80
    Happy

    Made me think of this...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxszfOFBW4U

  59. Bradley Hardleigh-Hadderchance
    Pint

    So...

    ...I see you've been down the Effin pub again Father?

    ARSE!

  60. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hatfield

    My hometown of Hatfield isn't even in there. There are several alternatives it suggests that have Hatfield in the name, all of which are significantly smaller (although probably nicer to live in). My friends tend to use London or one of the other Hatfield alternatives, I've just left mine blank.

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